Recognition
by CloakedDragonWing3721
Summary: Robin knows what a psychopath feels like, has been able to sense the mentally disturbed and dangerous since he was a child in Gotham. None of Jump City's villains have ever given Robin that sense of wrongness. None, that is, but Slade. And no matter how treacherous and conniving Terra is, no one deserves to be at Slade's mercy. Apprentice!fic, of the Robin variety.


**A/N:** Right, no offense guys, but I hate Terra. She's a ***** who doesn't care about anyone and acts like a Mary Sue, except (unfortunately) she's canon. But she's a good plot device. And source of angst for Robin. Who's my favorite (duh. He's literally all I write in any of my DC fandoms.) So… this is born. Inspired by my lack of satisfaction with the Slade and Robin rivalry in every other season but 1. Sorry I haven't been writing, I'm gonna put a new chapter of Dark Squire up soon. This takes place between Terra's betrayal and Aftershock.

Something had been off about her.

Not right.

The look Terra got in her eyes as she stared at something, when she would get lost in space, and sit there absently. The way she could be sweet as sugar one moment, and harsh and sour the next. Practically bipolar. It scared him sometimes, and Robin would lay in bed thinking, _why is she in my tower? Why did I let her into my tower?_ Honestly, he felt uncomfortable whenever she was around, with her too-wide smile and her too-perfect happiness. But Robin knew why he had let her be a Titan.

His team.

They loved her, Starfire exchanging girl talk with Terra that Raven sometimes wouldn't indulge in. Cyborg loved how she would laugh at his jokes, no matter how bad they were, and patiently listen to him ramble about circuits and the challenges of building a car for five, now six ( _noshewasn'toneofHISTitansnoneveroneofHISTitans_ ) superpowered teens. Everyone loved her.

Except Raven.

She saw some of what he did. She lowered her guard around Terra after awhile of blatantly opposing her. Robin saw more though. He saw how she had appeared just before Slade had attacked. He saw her grin with too many teeth, too smugly, as Raven accepted her. But Robin wasn't Raven. He knew that something simply _wasn't right_ about her, but he wasn't going to shun or accuse her. That would simply invite the other Titans to say the same things they always did. _Lighten up, Robin. Stop being so paranoid, Robin. Everything's fine, Robin._

He wasn't trained like that.

He was a detective. He planned, he schemed, he prepared. Most heroes followed a formula, Robin had found. Bad guy commits crime, hero rushes in and tries to stop him in the act, hero gets their butt kicked, hero runs off to lick their wounds, hero comes back with an actual plan this time and gets the job done. The Bats couldn't do that. They didn't have superpowers. And they lived in Gotham. Any butt kicking they took was guaranteed to be fatal if they couldn't escape, and the bad guy wasn't just going to _let_ the hero run off to lick his wounds.

So Robin was trained to notice the little things. Not to go barging straight in, guns-blazing. Take the subtle way, figure out the guy's M.O., power, and shtick, and take them down hard. Never assume that the bad guy would stay down for long, because they never did. Never _assume_ anyone dead, because in Gotham, there was never a guarantee. Anything that could go wrong in Gotham would. So instead of being confrontational about it to Terra, Robin pretended to accept her. The old saying about keeping your friends close, but your enemies closer? Robin was a master of it. So he watched Terra, ignoring the tingle of _off-ness_ down his spine when she smiled too widely, and vowed he would be ready when she betrayed them.

And he knew she would. Robin just didn't know when she would, why, and for whom. But she would. She had the vibe Harley gave off when she was helping Batman catch the Joker, but was planning a double cross. Terra was _very_ similar to Harley Quinn. She gave off the same henchwoman vibe as well. She was too weak to be the one in charge of whatever was going on. She had a higher power. And Robin would be patient until found out who it was. He was a great actor.

And then the truth came out, as he had known it would. Slade. He should've known.

Robin had drawn similarities between Terra and Harley because Terra was the Harley to his Batman, just as Slade was the Joker to his Batman. Except, hopefully Terra wasn't romantically involved with Slade. Because she was Robin's age, and _ick_. Terra even had the blonde hair, blue eyes, and overly cheerful demeanor that was so similar to Harley's.

But like Harley, Terra didn't know what she was getting into.

Terra was being drawn in with sweet lies, false promises, not seeing that she was a means to an end. And so Robin had to save her. Even though he hated her for what she had done to his team.

Robin had been in Gotham long enough to recognize what a psycho was when he saw one, no matter who they were. And Slade screamed _archenemy_ and _psychopath_. He gave off the same vibe of sheer disregard for human life that the Joker did. No matter who Terra was, Robin could not leave her at Slade's mercy.

 **000000000**

Robin walked, slowly and steadily, into the ruined remnants of Slade's old haunt. The one where the apprenticeship had taken place. The Boy Wonder paused and stared at the throne, which had somehow survived after the rest of the place had crumbled and fallen apart. Well, the outer shell remained. Just the interior, anything that could have incriminated Slade or lead the Titans to find his other bases remained.

Robin stood among the piles of rubble, and turned slowly away from the throne, eyes focused on where the displays of the Titan's bloodstreams had stood. He waited.

And waited.

Robin was patient. Years of stakeouts and stealth training had ensured that.

Then he heard exactly what he had been expecting to hear, and turned. He laid eyes on the throne, knowing what he would see and seeing it.

"Well, well, well, Robin. Reminiscing?"

There sat Slade, with Terra standing in some weird looking costume behind him, to his right. Just as Robin knew he would be. Actually, Robin hadn't known for certain that Terra would be there. It was a test, though. Everything was. But this was a test set by Robin, for a change, and Slade knew it. Robin wanted to know exactly how much Slade trusted his new apprentice, and what did he trust her with.

For instance, Slade clearly didn't trust her to be alone by herself in one of his haunts. Otherwise, he would have left Terra, because Robin knew that Slade prefered that their conversations take place in private. After all, Slade went through a lot of trouble to separate the Titans from Robin, more so since the apprenticeship.

Robin also realized that Slade didn't trust her and was only using her by Terra's costume. Terra probably didn't realize it, but Robin did. Robin was a genius with technology. He could recognize a suit that controlled a person from a mile away. Terra, apparently, couldn't.

All of this, Robin took in within a millisecond or two. Robin studied Slade and Terra for another moment, then spoke. "No. But you knew that."

"Of course, Robin."

The voice was suave as ever. Robin smirked a bit, countering Slade's polite calm. "But you don't know why I'm here."

Robin repressed the urge to laugh as Slade's eye hardened. He had backed Slade into a corner. Slade _didn't_ know why Robin had shown up here, obviously to talk to him. However, if Slade admitted that, he would be admitting weakness in front of his new and impressionable apprentice. If Slade bluffed and was called, he would also be showing his new apprentice that he could be wrong. What a conundrum. Robin took sadistic pleasure in the cold look of fury in Slade's eye as he realized the full implications of Robin's sentence. _Check_.

Then again, Terra looked clueless. She wasn't exactly smart. She might not even understand that her master had shown weakness.

Slade's fingers came together in a steeple. "You're here about my new apprentice." _Hmm_. Slade had slipped out of Robin's verbal trap.

Robin nodded slowly. "Yes. I want you to let her go."

Terra foolishly interrupted. "I don't want to leave! I'm not some scared little girl who-"

" _Quiet_." Slade was simmering with anger. With Terra, for her obvious lack of true potential. For Robin, for forcing him into this situation.

Robin smiled darkly. "Yes, Terra. Quiet. You don't have a say in this. You are merely a pawn in our game, don't you see?" Terra looked to Slade uncertainly, but Slade didn't disagree. It appeared that Slade was already becoming irked by Terra's inadequacy.

Slade kept ignoring Terra, and addressed Robin. "Why do you want Terra to leave me? You were never fooled by her act. You knew something was wrong with her. But you knew your precious team would be blinded, and would write off your suspicions as paranoia, as they usually do. So why?"

Robin's lips compressed into a thin line. "Because she hurt my team. I want you to send her back to Titan's Tower, to await justice or help, whichever she chooses."

A light dawned in Slade's eyes, and his body language screamed the cat that got the canary. Or the Robin, in this case. "And why wouldn't you be the one bringing her to your tower and helping her? What will you be doing?"

Robin's eyes narrowed. Slade wanted him to say it. Fine, he would say it. But he would do it with pride, with the knowledge that he would be making a sacrifice with his dignity intact in exchange for his team and a young girl's well being. "Because I am offering myself in exchange for Terra."

"And why on Earth would I want you more than her?"

Robin smiled humorlessly. "Because I am more skilled than her. Because I do all that I do without powers. Because I am the best fighter under the age of eighteen in the entire world. Because I'm the nephew of the entire Justice League, and Batman's son. The poster boy for heroism, and you want to send a message to the hero community, that even their best can be broken."

Slade scowled at the fact that Robin hadn't begged him, hadn't showed weakness. Then the supervillain smiled. It didn't matter. Humiliation could come later. Now, Slade was getting what he wanted. "I accept."

"WHAT?!" Terra screeched. The two males in the room nearly winced at the volume she attained. "I did so much for you, I gave up everything for you, Slade, what do you mean-"

" _Shut. Up._ " Slade hissed. He signaled for two of his sladebots, which had been lurking in the shadows, to come out and they began to drag Terra away. "Stupid girl. You are a pawn, and you have outlived your usefulness." Slade ignored Terra's pathetic cries and watched with satisfaction as two more sladebots came out and tied Robin's wrists firmly behind his back, no slack. Robin tested his bonds, twisting his wrists and working the knots until a sladebot put a hand over the ropes, stopping him. Robin stilled as Slade approached. This wasn't supposed to happen. Robin was supposed to wait until Terra left and then escape. Robin began struggling against his bonds, trying to get free, until Slade gripped his chin and brought his face up so that their eyes met.

"Welcome back… _Apprentice_."

 **A/N:** That wasn't supposed to be that long. Whoops. Don't worry, I haven't abandoned Dark Squire by any means.


End file.
